Category: Special Interests
EPA threatens entire U.S. economy in attempt to kill the Pebble Mine
| May 24, 2012 | Posted by Admin under Mining, Special Interests |
We have written before about the Pebble Mine, which is under threat of a preemptive shutdown due to an absurd power grab by the EPA.
These threats came to a head in the late afternoon last Friday (the perfect time to try to sneak underhanded tactics by people and hope no one notices), as the EPA “released a draft scientific study of the Bristol Bay watershed and its natural resources, conducted solely to form the basis for preemptively vetoing the Pebble Mine in Alaska.”
Keep in mind the Pebble Mine owners haven’t even applied for a permit, let alone gone through the permitting and vetting process, yet the EPA is already trying to block them. So much for an honest and fair chance.
Mineweb, a leading online publication covering the mining industry, writes:
Never mind that the U.S. Corps of Engineers has been the primary permitting authority for dredging and filling permits for mining projects impacting watersheds. Over the opposition of the Alaska attorney general [Michael Geraghty], Ranking Senate Energy & Resources Committee Member Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and others, the EPA is determined to wrest the permitting authority for itself, using the power it believes was granted by the Clean Water Act.
You can read the EPA report here [PDF].
Let us be clear: This is a pure power grab by unelected, unaccountable EPA bureaucrats. This report could mean that the EPA can kill any project that could potentially impact water, without the project ever going through the permitting process, and without input from state, local, or other federal agencies.
In fact, Wizbang Blog reports:
An article from Inside the EPA (subscription required) shows that environmentalists couldn’t be happier, and want the EPA to use this plan to kill other projects…
“Environmentalists are now calling on the agency to conduct a similar assessment of mining activity in the Great Lakes region. The Bristol Bay study “is comparable to what we’d like to see” in the Great Lakes, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) attorney Michelle Halley said on a May 10 conference call.”
How can you help?
1. Let EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and members of Congress know what you think about this unprecedented power grab.
2. On Twitter? Follow @ResourceEarth for updates and tweet your thoughts using the hashtags #YesPebble and #GivePebbleAChance
3. Comment on news articles, saying why you support Pebble Mine and oppose this expansion of EPA power.
For further reading:
Has the EPA overstepped its bounds with Pebble Project assessment? (Mineweb)
The EPA is annexing Alaska (Wizbang Blog)
EPA finds mining could affect fish, water as residents fight prospect near Alaska fishery (Washington Post)
EPA: Mining Could Affect Quality of Water, Fish (Associated Press)
Alaska AG says EPA’s actions ‘unlawful’ (Legal Newsline)
Evergreen Solar Bankruptcy in Spite of Stimulus Funds and Government Assistance: More Workers to be Laid Off
| August 16, 2011 | Posted by Beth Shaw under Special Interests |
One of the Obama Administration’s pet ‘green energy’ projects is going under. Worse, the company is now moving their operations to China to a more ‘business friendly’ environment. Even worse than that, more people will be losing their jobs. Eight-hundred people lost their jobs when the company closed its Devens, Massachusetts plant in March. The Evergreen Solar bankruptcy comes after getting stimulus funds, grants, tax-credits, low-interest loans and subsidies.
Evergreen Solar Inc., the Massachusetts clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies from the Patrick administration for an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy, listing $485.6 million in debt.
Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March and cut 800 jobs, has been trying to rework its debt for months. The cash-strapped company announced today has sought a reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and reached a deal with certain note holders to restructure its debt and auction off assets.
The Massachusetts Republican Party called the Patrick administration’s $58 million financial aid package, which supported Evergreen’s $450 million factory, a “waste” of money.
“The bankruptcy of Evergreen Solar is another sad event for the Massachusetts company and highlights the folly of the Patrick-Murray Administration which has put government subsidies into their pet projects instead of offering broad based relief to all Bay State employers,” said Jennifer Nassour, head of the state GOP.
Read the rest of the article.
Meanwhile, the government, particularly through the EPA continues to throw road-blocks in the form of regulations to prevent the United States from becoming energy independent utilizing the resources we have in abundance within our own country.
Instead of investing millions of tax-payer dollars into alternative energy companies that result in loses, as evidenced by the Evergreen Solar bankruptcy, perhaps we should start looking again at energy that can be obtained within our own country and that will put Americans back to work.
Alaska project an example of EPA’s foothold on mining
| June 2, 2011 | Posted by Resourceful Earth News under Energy, Mining, Rare Earths, Special Interests |
OpenMarket.org features the latest work from CEI’s Myron Ebell. This time, he focuses on the economical impact that EPA regulations and red-tape have had on Alaskan mining projects. Take a read here: http://www.openmarket.org/2011/06/02/an-alaskan-mining-project-one-example-of-how-environmental-regulations-are-strangling-the-u-s-economy/
Here’s the full excerpt (sans image):
Rick Manning of Americans for Limited Government notes here that one of the reasons the American economy is stuck in neutral is that investors in new projects are being stymied by environmental regulations. The example he gives is a huge proposed new copper and gold mine in Alaska called the Pebble Project that is being studied to death.
The co-owners of the Pebble Project are a British and a Canadian company. They want to invest billions of dollars in a mine that would probably create close to a thousand high-paying jobs for at least fifty years. It would also add tens of billions of dollars to the American economy and pay billions of dollars in royalties to the State of Alaska, which owns the land and subsurface rights.
The Pebble Project’s owners have reportedly already spent $125 million on the environmental research reports required to open the mine. But opponents have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to deny a Clean Water Act permit for the mine before the owners have even applied for an operating permit. Incredibly, the EPA is seriously considering this outrageous petition. And even more outrageously, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson this spring attended and spoke at a reception for opponents of the mine, which was hosted in the Supreme Court by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor!
It’s not just the Pebble Project in Alaska. Daniel McGroarty of the American Resources Policy Network recently testified before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources that the U. S. is ranked last among 25 nations surveyed for the length of its permitting process in an annual survey of mining investment opportunities. Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association, testified at the same hearing that U. S. mineral production is far below its potential because of over-regulation and federal land lock-ups.
And it’s not just mining. This is the kind of regulatory mischief that the Obama administration’s EPA is creating to stifle investment in all manufacturing and natural resource production industries. America once had the freest economy and most enterprising people in the world. It can regain that status, but not until we do something about regulatory overkill.
EPA’s Lisa Jackson takes preemptive strike on Pebble mine
| May 26, 2011 | Posted by Resourceful Earth News under Energy, Issues, Mining, Special Interests |
CEI Director, Myron Ebell, is stunned at the behavior of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lisa Jackson. Read here to learn why: http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/03/31/guest-post-epa-chief-lisa-jacksons-conduct-grossly-improper/
Here’s the full excerpt:
Guest post: EPA chief Lisa Jackson’s conduct ‘grossly improper’
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is hosting a reception at the Supreme Court today for various opponents of the proposed Pebble Mine project in Alaska. Politico’s Morning Energy reports that one of the attendees will be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson. And I have heard that Jackson will be speaking to the group.
Jackson’s conduct is grossly improper. Environmental pressure groups have petitioned the EPA to deny a Clean Water Act permit for the mine before the company developing it has even applied for the permit. Appearing at what is essentially a pep rally for those opposing the mine means that Jackson has already taken sides in the bitter political and legal dispute.
Myron Ebell
Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute
